Birthdays and all that jazz......

Well here we are, another year older - you wouldn't ask a lady her age though would you?  To be honest it was another unsurprising year, birthdays seem to pass like any other day now (not even my boys remembered til prompted!) however I shall count my blessings - I felt less ill than in recent days, I received monies for my birthday which I am pondering on putting toward an over lock sewing machine and I received 2 lovely gifts from the mister in the form of a book and some glassware.  You may find it odd that I should get excited over such things but people who know me better know I love to read/learn new things and as for the glassware, its gorgeous! The book in question was the 'Style Me Vintage' one by Belinda Hay.

I'd read mixed reviews on this one so was not sure what to expect but in all fairness I'm rather pleased.  Its very well set out and I love the fact it doesn't bombard you with lots of styles, you get some basic ones which are good for someone just starting out experimenting with the looks.  In all fairness I do agree that more pictures in the step by steps would have been helpful but I think that alot of people will be able to manage with just the descriptions.  Unfortunately this has now made me covet hood dryers!

So from here to the glassware, you'll understand why I'm pleased in a moment.  I'd recently been looking on internet bidding sites at Babycham glasses to go in my 'new' cupboard, however I refuse to get into bidding wars and some of the 'Buy It Now' prices were beyond my means.  Lets just say the boy done good! After talking about it to a friend of mine who works in the fabric shop I frequent she mentioned that she had a set of 6 glasses in mint condition just sat in a cardboard box in her house - well guess who owns them now! The mister was totally stumped as to what to get me so I mentioned them to him and I get to go pick them up this Friday.

The final thing that made my birthday complete was the arrival of my Able Grable dress.  It was one I had been lusting over last year called  Miss Betty Amanda however the design sold out before I was able to get one.  Imagine my delight to find one was being auctioned on eBay in my size a few days ago.  Promptly I put my bid in with what I knew I had left in my account and I won! When the postman bought it to the house yesterday I managed to restrain from squealing but I ripped it open like a child with a gift and am please to say it fits beautifully.  Remember, Able Grable is still running the giveaway to win one of the exclusive hair flowers I made for them, pop over to her blog for more details and your chance to win!

Moving on, I thought I'd share with you some of the 'finds' I'd managed to pick up in the last few weeks courtesy of the Air Ambulance shop.

First up, I got this fabulous bracelet - unsure of what its made from exactly but its mother of pearl style and cost me an enormous 75p!

Next up, remember me mentioning the tea set I bought?  6 cups, saucers and tea plates for £5, identical to one my nan has that she's kept safe.  I love the fact that its a set yet each cup set is a different colour, you can see they've been loved but are in great condition.


And lastly, the jumble of glassware I bought.  Decanter (£1.50), 4 little liqueur glasses (£1.50) and 2 Baileys glassed (25p).  So very pleased with it all, though I have my eye on some sherry glasses to go with now, and maybe a cocktail shaker? Who knows!! Talking of cocktails, if anyone would like to share their favourite one/recipe with me I'd love to hear them.

Well I think that's quite enough from me for such an early morning post, I'd better try and finish getting this room squared up so we can start getting festive! By the way, hope you like the new look

TTFN

xxx

a bit of a catch up!

Well it's been longer than I expected since my last entry but that was simply down to having no time and a wonderful cough/throat infection, but I'm here now.  I could start a little rant about couriers and dismal service but I wont, there's enough whining in the world and we all know it happens this time of year anyway!

Instead I shall bring you up to date with recent occurrences - starting with that coat patter I blogged last week.  I am finally going to get around to making it this week with a few of my own little tweaks (IE omitting the pockets, that's what I have a bag for!) and after much too and fro-ing decided to make it in a less expensive fabric at first just in case.  After much searching I found a lovely bottle green suedette, after matching the threads and lining I was a happy bunny, in total my first 'coat' is going to cost me around £12! Keep your fingers crossed for me not having too many problems.

From there to the home, remember I finally went into the air ambulance shop and bought *that* cabinet, well its arriving tomorrow so I decided last Friday to declutter and organise the room ready for it.  It was supposed to include painting but tbh I really haven't been up to it.  On a good day I can start and finish painting a room in a day and get things put back, I just need to have a good day! It gave me a chance to ponder on my paint colour choice though and I'm now thinking that duck egg blue may be a little wishy washy for the room so am debating a nice 'Hawaiian Blue' instead, we shall see.  All I know is I really need to get my cooker sorted so I can get my new one taken out of my living room!

Now to myself.  I am still a little annoyed at myself for cutting all my hair off but as I said at the time, it will grow back, its just hair! It just gives me an excuse to play with it a little more.  Usually I will set my hair using foam rollers and sleep in them for the night but I've been finding this uncomfortable of late so I am hoping these will be a saving grace

usually I don't get on with curlers and my hair is a little too short for hot sticks at the moment - I shall let you know how I get on.  This is all a part of me recovering my confidence, its surprising how nasty you can be to yourself when left to your own devices and I managed to convince myself I am just not good enough.  Scrap that! 2011 marks my burlesque rebirth and it will be much better than 2010, I guarantee it!

Oh, a small make up note - I ran out of my usual gel eyeliner so after reading a recommendation I picked up Rimmel's Exaggerate liquid eyeliner, it was said to go on really well and stay on.  What a mistake! Its awful, it goes on patchy and requires 2 or more attempts to get a good colour/coverage and the slightest bit of humidity and it bled! I'll be heading to the MAC counter as soon as I can (or as soon as finances allow!)

As a final note I'd like to draw your attention to a little competition the lovely Able Grable designer Miss Matilda is running.  I was approached by her to create some exclusive rose hair flowers and you have the opportunity to win one of them, just go to her blog Able Grable, while your there you might want to take a few moments to visit the website, her dresses are beautiful!

Til next time

xxx

Sometimes ups outnumber the downs...

and believe me its been an up and down kinda day!  After having to cancel my performance last night for this Fridays event in Bristol due to the wonderful public transport system in the valleys I hit a bad low point.  This was supposed to be my comeback after a turbulent year but it was not to be, added to my slight thyroid induced depression and I was ready to throw in the towel and sob.  However, after having serious words with myself, I realised its not all bad - OK its probably dented my reputation but it means I can come back to the world of burlesque bigger and better in 2011.

So to today's events.  After meeting up with Zoe we set off  for our usual charity shop scour and tea consuming, first stop British Heart Foundation.  Now don't get me wrong, I've nothing against the charity itself but I now refuse to enter the local store due to the staffs rude behaviour.  I know things can get a little hectic this time of year but I draw the line at being physically pushed so the girl can pass me in a mostly empty store to get to the stock room!  So we continued our journey to the lovely Air Ambulance Shop, where, as we walked through the door I spied the cabinet I've had my eye on for a few weeks now still up for sale.  You know the moment in Wayne's World with the guitar, yeah, pretty much the same thing - it will be mine, oh yes!  We head to the back of the store to peruse the rails and after much to and fro'ing Zoe picks herself up a 'grandad cardigan', the big chunky wool type, but in the mean time I spot gloves! This store has been fabulous for my glove habit since they opened and today I added a lovely navy blue pair and a chocolate brown pair for the fabulous price of £3.  On top of this I nabbed a short sleeve sweater for £1.50 and debated on more glasses! After enquiring on the price of delivery for THE cabinet, I decided it was time to take the plunge and get it before I tempted fate once too often and lost it - and so, it shall be being delivered on Tuesday and I am a happy bunny!  From here we descended on the Cancer Research shop, this didn't throw up alot this time (I did note they were sorting through a delivery so will be back later this week) and after coming back down from upstairs I spotted a Westminster chime wall clock.  Well, we checked it over, perfect condition so we ask the cost - £3.00.  Zoe was over the moon! I did however seize the opportunity to tease her about how I'd found the clock and she'd stolen it (although her hubby would quite happily let me take it now by the sounds of things, I can see the chime being turned off hehe)

After racing back on the bus to get Zoe to her children's school play on time I called in to the tattoo studio where my other half is apprentice.  After a bit of chit chat I teased him to his boss about how he said he couldn't do the design I wanted for my forearm, next thing I knew it was drawn up and I was being coerced into getting the outline done - I'm really pleased with the way it turned out and can't wait to get the shading/colour put in.  Again its another personal tattoo, I've made sure all of mine are from my guardian geisha warrior to my space invader - but that's for another blog.  Anyways, this is the outline (or the best pic of it I could get myself) hope you like it as much as I do

Til tomorrow dear reader

xxx